Page 65 of Seductive Architect
My abilities allowed me to sense her in the suit. To everybody else, she had always been a voice through a device. As the division between Hudson and his programming faded, what other nifty abilities would present themselves?
Hey, boyfriend,nice to finally meet you.
My mask hid the slack jaw. It only opened wider when Hudson replied.My pleasure. I’m not sure I liked my bestie and myboyfriendbeing able to communicate this easily.
“Come on, boys,” Connie said in my earpiece. “We have an ass to kick.”
22
I peered over the railing,hoping to see Janet at the coffee shop making herself a drink. She defied expectations, but I worried. Even our crazy office assistant had limits. It made stopping Apex more urgent. Until his computers had been wiped…
“They’re coming,” I whispered.
I spotted a single employee below. In their PJs and slippers, they had left their home at his summons. Another came in through the rear doors. Scientists and accountants we could handle, but who knew how many heroes he had infected? I wanted to punch the pompous program more and more.
“Let’s go,” I said.
I was about to offer flying Hudson to the floor below when he climbed onto the railing and leapt. Clearing thirtyfeet, he grabbed onto the ledge, pulling himself over. I launched myself across the building, landing beside him.
“You’re a super soldier, huh?”
“That’s what I keep hearing.”
“You’re amaz?—”
It burned. Whatever slammed into my back threw me through the glass doors, through the lobby, and into the maze of labs. We had reached the part of the night that’d rack up the collateral damage. The jetpack fired, slowing my slide along the white tile. When I rolled over, I spotted the white light shaped like a person.
“Prism,” I hissed. Apex didn’t want us to reach him.
When he shot forward, Hudson grabbed his ankle, dragged along behind him.
“This asshole, again?” Connie didn’t hide the anger. “We can beat him up, right?”
“Yeah,” —I climbed to my feet— “we can.”
Hudson dug his heels into the tile, bringing Prism to a stop. He swung the villain against Tia’s desk, throwing naked troll dolls across the lobby. Prism fired a laser, but Hudson spun out of the way. The villain kept trying to blast Hudson, but he moved with a grace I wouldn’t expect for a man his size. When he flipped out of the way, I gasped. I witnessed the rise of a super.
“If you’re going to gawk…”
My jetpack fired, and I zipped into the lobby. I drove a shoulder into Prism’s back. His entire body turned into anultra-bright strobe. The heads-up display went on the fritz, and I closed my eyes to focus on the code. Unlike Wyatt and Drew, he wasn’t being controlled by Apex. My newly acquired arch-nemesis had sided with the bad guy of his own free will. Go figure.
Something struck my chest, knocking me to my knees. I blocked the knee to the face, but without being able to follow the fight, I was all but useless.
“Connie, some help?”
“He’s disabling all the cameras. I can’t?—”
Pain. Searing pain. The nanites couldn’t repair themselves fast enough as Prism cut through my suit. No, I wouldn’t let a senator—one I didn’t vote for—kill me.
“Fire.”
“What wea?—”
“All of them.”
Every compartment opened. Missiles. Repulsors. Knockout gas. If I installed it, it fired. I spun, Prism’s laser cutting across my shoulder. My jetpack popped off, firing in his direction.
“Hudson, down!”
